A mother, a writer, a happiness-seeker and self-improvement junkie navigating through life in the city.

Oh, trust that there are things that I do get done. Things like making sure the kids are fed, getting them to school on time, keeping the house reasonably clean, ensuring the bills are paid, helping Sage with her homework. These things get done.

But other things… like finishing up the final details of the YA book that I wrote so I can self-publish it or completing the digital planner that created so I can put it on sale on my Etsy site (that I actually still have to set up) or taking how-to illustration classes because I’ve recently discovered a love for drawing kawaii chibi characters or learning how to vectorize lettering that I created in Procreate so I maybe sell them on the afore-mentioned Etsy site that’s not even up yet or focusing more on writing because I have so many thoughts and ideas and stories inside me that are waiting to be released onto paper.

All things that are about me. About future me. Mylee 2.0. Things that I envision myself doing for a living.

I’m so good at gathering information, getting tips from other people who I admire, folks who did what it took to build their brands, people doing what they love.

People who I feel are making a difference in so many people’s lives. Doing what they love.

And I keep telling myself that I want what they have. And I tell myself I can have that if I just work harder and smarter and focus on the things that I need to do to get there. I maybe never be as famous as them but if I can just get to the point where I’m doing what I’m passionate about and helping people along the way then I’m content.

But guys, I can’t even get there. And I know what’s stopping me.

Me.

I’m my own hurdle.

I’m sure I’m spreading myself too thin. And thinking about doing too many things at once. And not focusing.

I don’t know how many times I’ve told myself if only I had a month off of work to focus on “mom-preneuring” and building the 2.0 version of my life. Then I dream about having that month off and all things I’d accomplish in that time.

The problem is I don’t have the luxury of taking a month off of work.

Should I let that stop me though? No. Is there something else that I can do? Yes. Can I break down all those things that I think I can do in a month and spread them out over a course of several months? Absolutely.

If I just gave myself a kick in the rear and hunker down, it’s quite possible that in a year I can look back at what I’ve accomplished and think “Wow, look at all the things I actually finished.” Maybe in a year I’ll have more of an online presence. Maybe in a year I’ll be making a small difference in other people’s lives.

Maybe in a year I will no longer be the Queen of Getting Nothing Done.

I think I just needed to put this out there and hold myself accountable. With all of you out there watching.

“Hey there, how’s it going? Just wanted to point out that we’re halfway through the year now. Are you on course to meet the goals you set for yourself this year?”

But it also leers at me. Taunts me.

“Girl, what are you doing? Half the year has passed. You barely made a dent in your long list of things to do! Chop, chop, get going, MOVE, woman!”

*sigh*

Stepping back and checking the status of where you are at the midpoint of the year is not always fun. If you’re anything like me, the first thing you feel is panic. Your gut might be saying, “Screw it. You’re never gonna get to all the things you wanted to do this year.”

But if you are anything like me, you’ll tell yourself it’s not too late.

You’ll look back and feel pride in the podcast that you finally launched with your friend. The podcast might not be where it needs to be in sound quality or listenership but it’s out there.

You’ll think about the young adult novel that’s just about ready for Amazon self-publishing if you could just find a minute to figure out the cover artwork. You’ll tell yourself that you need to find that minute quick.

You’ll feel good about finally figuring out the best system to organize all of your thoughts, ideas and list of things to do. You’ll feel even better about this system working.

You’ll be satisfied about putting a stake in the ground about what your most important life pillars are and that this helps you determine the activities you participate in. If it applies to one of your pillars, it’s a yes. If it doesn’t, politely say no.

You’ll feel trepidation because there’s so much left to do. You might have checked off a number of things on your list but for every item you checked off you might have added two more.

You’ll feel all of these things on the morning of July 1st. Then you’re going to take a deep breath. You’re going to get on your feet and tackle your 2018 goals one step at a time.

You’re going to remember that even if you don’t meet all them by the time the new year rolls by, you at least took a few steps in the direction of your goals and dreams.

And this means that you’re further along than you were on the morning of July 1st.

So don’t fret. And don’t stress. There’s still 6 more months remaining in 2018.

Last week I launched a podcast with one of my girlfriends. Well, we technically came out with Episode 1 the week prior 3/7/18, with the introduction of Episode 2, was the first day we actually advertised it and asked people to have a listen.

And boy, the feedback that we got. You’d think we announced that we were going to be the second coming of Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations podcast instead of just two random girls having normal everday conversations about normal everyday things. Then failed to deliver.

When my co-host told me that she had negative feedback to share my first reaction was to shake my fists indignantly. Where is this negative feedback coming from and does the source have a podcast themselves? Because unless they did I was not going to listen to any hate coming from people who didn’t have the courage to put themselves out there like we did.

You guys are too boring.

You sound like you were reading from a srcipt.

You’re speaking two slowly.

The sound quality is bad.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I don’t appreciate this feedback. I can definitely use it to get better. Always room for improvement, right? But right now we have only released two episodes. We are far from perfect. And I’m guessing that it’s going to be a while before we get close to perfecting our podcast.

What do you do with “you guys are too boring” though? Tell more jokes? Come up with more exciting topics? Speak with more animation?

Or do you just say, “Thank you for the feedback. We’ll try to do better next time. Maybe you shouldn’t listen now then come back when we’re less boring.”

I realize I may be coming across like a childish brat who can’t take a little bit of constructive criticism. But depending on the tone used to convey this feedback it may just be mistaken for some good old-fashioned hate.

Nevertheless, I’ll just do what I do best: re-frame and find some positivity in it. I think I’ve given myself enough time to stomp my feet and whine. Time to pull up my big girl panties and move on.

Pretty sure this won’t be the last time our podcast gets less-than-stellar feedback. Might as well get used to it and figure out how to handle it with grace.

As the saying goes: “It’s not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters.”